The Day This Shit Started
by sharkiefangirl
Summary: Synopsis: When Ellis sets out to find his mother during a zombie apocalypse, he will risk his life by leaving his group of survivors. He starts remembering things that took place before the apocalypse and retraces his steps to find her. This is a non-sexual/non-romantic fanfiction set within the Left 4 Dead game universe revolving around the survivors, but mostly Ellis.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ellis walked along the edge of the swampy marsh following his teammates, Coach, Rochelle, and Nick. He was lost in thought; occasionally kicking a rock or two. That day….when everything changed, he never knew what happened to his good friend Keith, or more importantly, his mama. He had been travelling with his group for quite a few months now.

"They ain't dead. I know they'int." Ellis whispered under his breath.

"Ellis, if this is another story…" Nick grumbled without looking at him.

"Jis' shut up Nick." Ellis snapped back. Nick shrugged and kept walking behind Coach. Ellis wanted desperately to go and look for them, but truth be told he was attached to his group of survivors. They had been through so much together… Ellis had gone to his mechanic shop just outside of Savannah… He hadn't talked to or seen Keith that day as they had different shifts.

"Ellis? Ellis, hey I'm sorry man." Nick apologized. Ellis abruptly looked up at everyone staring at him and shook his head, clearing the thoughts. "Something bothering you?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm fine, let's go." Ellis shrugged off their concerns.

"Boy, you're lookin' mighty melancholy for somethin' not to be wrong." Coach said as he crossed his arms and raised a brow.

"Did I ever tell you guys I never knew what happened to my mom or Keith the day this shit started? I wanted to go look for them, but I panicked and people were running like crazy in the streets…CEDA wasn't tellin' people what was goin' on, just pushing 'em away trying to get them under control for 'vacuation. The phone lines weren't workin' so I couldn't call 'em…" Ellis sighed.

"I'm sure they got out okay, Ellis." Rochelle said, trying to cheer him up. She gave him a one-armed hug.

"Thanks Ro'. I just want to be sure. 'Been thinkin' 'bout goin' after 'em for a while now, to be honest…" he confessed, looking up at them hoping they would understand.

"Ellis, are you crazy? You can't go off on your own just like that…you could get hurt or worse…" Nick said, trying to prevent his friend from making another stupid mistake.

"Nick, I know you probably don't understand…but damn it, I gotta do this. If I find 'em, I'll bring 'em back and they can help us fight this damn zombie apocalypse…" Ellis said defensively. Nick was a little hurt by that, he did understand, and he cared for his friend.

"And if you don't find them?" Nick replied. Ellis slumped his shoulders.

"I gotta try. They're ma' family, Nick."

"So are we, Ellis." Rochelle added. Although Nick didn't like to admit it, the group was all he had left, they had grown on him. Nick handed Ellis some pills and his medkit.

"Well, you're gonna need these."

"Aww man, thanks Nick!" Ellis said as he gave Nick a hug. Nick let him for about three seconds…

"Alright, alright, don't get all sappy on me. You're lucky you know so much about firearms." He said trying to change the subject.

"Good luck, Ellis. We'll be here for you when you get back." Coach said smiling and handing him a pipe bomb.

"We'll miss ya sweetie. We will be here for you and we believe in you. I just know you're gonna find your mama and Keith." Rochelle said with a wink. They approached the next safe house and shut the door behind them. A loud zombie howl echoed from outside.

"I'm comin' for ya Keith….you too mama." Ellis whispered as he picked up supplies and ammo. After he had finished reloading his gun, he headed back for the entrance door of the safe house. He took a long look into the dark sky outside and mindless reanimated corpses wandering aimlessly in the distance. He looked back one last time at his friends, smiled, and popped the metal bar holding the door locked.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ellis wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm. He had been working all day at his garage in Savannah. He leaned to take a closer look into the hood of the vehicle he was working on.

"Goddamn engine…c'mon.." Ellis muttered. He slid his sweat-soaked shirt over his head and threw it behind him. "Sure is a hot one today." He said to himself, as if someone else was around. He shrugged; he knew no one was, he was the only one scheduled to work today. Ellis took a quick break and walked over to his CD player. He popped in his favorite album from The Midnight Riders and turned it up loud. "That's more like it, heh heh." he chuckled as he continued working on the car.

About twenty minutes had passed and the landline wall phone had rang, but Ellis couldn't hear it over the volume of the music. Ellis had finished working under the hood and had slid underneath the car to take a look at its undercarriage. He suddenly felt a small tremor from the floor while lying on his back.

"What the hell?" he asked. He shrugged it off and continued working. He felt another tremor; this one was larger than the last one. He sat up, startled, and hit his head on the underside of the car. "Owww…Goddamn it…" he growled in pain. He slid out from underneath the car and stood up. He ran into the main part of the store and grabbed a clean shirt. It happened to be his ol' Bullshifters shirt. It made him smile a little, but he was still curious as to what the hell that tremor was. He opened the front door of the store and walked outside. He looked down the street as people were running in a panic. Helicopters whirred in the distance. Suddenly a loud explosion caused the ground to shake violently. Ellis staggered and ran back into the shop, frantically grabbing the phone and calling his mother to tell her what was going on. There wasn't even a dial tone…nothing but silence on the other end. He slammed the phone back onto the wall; it didn't stay and fell to the floor with a cracking sound.

"Oh shit….oh shit, man." Ellis muttered under his breath. He ran back outside and was abruptly shoved by a man in a black bulletproof suit. Ellis was sent sprawling to the ground. "Hey, what the fuck?!" he shouted over the people screaming.

"Get to the evac, sir. CEDA is taking care of this. No need to panic." The man started forcing Ellis into the crowd of people who were also being forced by more men in black bulletproof suits. Ellis got on his hands and knees, crawling his way out of the crowd. He got up and started running for the woods, away from the hysteria. Ellis tripped on a large root and once again hit the ground with a hard thud.

"Holy shit this hurts…" Ellis mumbled, "…now what in the hell was all that about?" He looked up at the sky as more helicopters flew past. "Surely I'll find somebody who knows what's going on." He hiked through some more woods for about an hour or so and was almost to a clearing. The hairs on Ellis's neck stood up as he heard an angry growl behind him. He turned but nothing was there. It was almost as if something was stalking him…he heard a loud cry of something monstrous…Ellis had gone hunting with his dad and grandpa before but had never heard anything like that. He kept walking slowly towards the clearing as to not draw too much attention to himself. He approached what looked like a parking lot for an abandoned pawn shop. He climbed up and out of the woods and the growling had stopped. He looked around for someone, anyone…there was no one here.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I miss that baby boy..." Rochelle sighed. Ellis was like a little brother to her, they would always joke around. Nick and Coach were sitting on a sofa in the safe house. Nick was silent and had a stern look on his face, while Coach just gazed outside through the safe house door bars. They had shut it tightly after Ellis had left; it had been almost three days now. Every time a wandering zombie would stumble by and reach through the bars, Coach would just pop a bullet in its head and sigh.

"Are we just going to sit here for days while Ellis gets himself killed? Or are we going to move forward? He knows where we are headed; we don't have to stay here." Nick said in a grumpy tone. Everyone was silent for a moment, they knew Nick was right, that if they had any chance of survival, they couldn't stay here, supplies was already starting to run out. Rochelle walked slowly to their stash of canned food and medical supplies and packed it into a backpack; thrusting it over her shoulder.

"Well let's go then…" Rochelle sighed, heading for the exit door. Coach stopped her, standing up.

"Allow me, baby girl." He said tenderly. Coach was also like a brother to her, they all were family. Rochelle passed the heavy bag to Coach. Nick grabbed his gun, and popped the bar holding the door shut.

"Let's kill those sons'a'bitches." He said, cracking a smile. That made everyone smile as they remembered their friend's cocky remark…

Meanwhile…

Ellis grimaced as his stomach growled. He had been walking back to Savannah for three days and although he had water, he was starving. _Would they really still be there?_ He thought. _I reckon they would run outta supplies by now. They probably are headin' out without me._ Ellis sighed but he knew his friends still cared about him. He could still catch up. He heard the familiar crazed sound of a Jockey off in the distance.

"Oh no you don't, you sonuvvabitch." He turned and shot the Jockey right in the head, killing it instantly. He continued to walk through swampy woods, when he looked towards a patch of overgrown grass and weeds. He saw a swamp rabbit hopping about. Ellis slowly crouched to the ground and approached it slowly. He tried to stay hidden in the tall marsh grass. The rabbit froze but couldn't pinpoint its stalker…Ellis cocked his gun with his finger gripping the trigger. With a loud pop, he shot the rabbit with his gun and the rabbit stumbled forward and collapsed. "Bullseye." Ellis said, proud of his precision and excited to finally eat. He quietly walked over to the dead rabbit and picked it up by the scruff of its neck. He knew the zombies would be here soon upon hearing the gunshot, so he had to get out of the area quickly without being seen. Gripping his kill, he ran forward for about eight minutes before finding a very large tree. He looked up and recognized the treehouse above.

 _Hey I been here before…we passed through here._ Ellis thought. Suddenly a demonic howl echoed through the trees. _They're on their way…shit._ He decided to hide up here until the horde was gone. He slung his rabbit over his shoulder and climbed the treehouse ladder effortlessly. There was an unloaded scoped hunting rifle up there, and some trash. _Man I remember when me and Keith used to build these when we were kids. Good times._ Ellis quietly unloaded his things and spread them out on the treehouse floor. He took out a small pocket knife and began gutting and skinning the rabbit. His dad had taught him how when he was young…before he left. He and Keith would go hunting some weekends when his mama was busy. "You kids go play in the woods…" she would always say. Ellis smiled upon remembering that.

Ellis finished cleaning the rabbit and cut the meat into strips. Once he found a place safe to make a fire, he would cook it into jerky, which was the easiest to carry with him and would last a while. He wiped off his bloody knife with a handkerchief he kept in his back pocket. It was a little oily, but not bad. He looked around of something to wrap the meat in. There was a little kid's table inside the tree house, with a bunch of newspapers and coloring books spread out over it. Suddenly Ellis could smell rotting flesh below him…the horde was passing through. He quickly laid the strips of meat in newspaper inched apart and wrapped them up tight. He put his knife and the meat into a large pocket of his coveralls. _Damn…I guess I'll have to wait it out…_

"Molotov comin'!" Nick yelled, throwing a Molotov into a group of zombies. The fire spread like a ripple in a lake almost immediately. Coach and Rochelle pulled Nick up onto a concrete ledge as the fire spread below.

"Whew, that was a close one." Rochelle said, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah well it would have been easier with El-" Nick stopped and discontinued the conversation. He slung his gun over his shoulder and turned away from them. "Goddamn it…" he whispered. They all walked in silence as they headed for next safe house.

"Hey guys!" someone yelled from far away. It sounded like a young woman's voice.


End file.
